Concrete: Sing a song of structural realignment Scientists have developed an environmentally friendly way of improving the structure of concrete – by making it sing. Physicists from the St. Petersburg State Institute of Technology discovered that exposing concrete blocks to ultrasound makes the material more durable and water-resistant. The scientists placed the moulded concrete in a metal barrel – which acts as an antenna or resonator – and passed short pulses of alternating current through it, creating acoustic waves that ‘healed’ internal defects in the concrete. A common problem for cement, concrete and other building materials is the heterogeneity of structure, where the material has hardened in a non-uniform way. While concrete is hardening pores and cavities of different sizes tend to form within it, reducing the quality and durability and increasing the permeability and brittleness. The concrete blocks treated to singing lessons had fewer of these defects, being much more durable and dense, capable of resisting cold and rainy weather for longer, claim the Russian scientists, who will now seek to establish exactly how the singing process works Faversham House Group Ltd 2002.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 12:22:11 +0000
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